Members of Congress have many questions about iPhone location logging, and they’re not afraid to ask. Elsewhere, Greenpeace has reengaged Apple, Cupertino may be handing out supercharged iPhones, and the prevalence of cheap games may be—surprise—hurting expensive games. The remainders for Thursday, April 21, 2011 would never play games—with your heart.
Senator questions Apple over iPhone tracking (Ars Technica)
Agreeing on a budget might take them weeks, but Congress is totally on top of this iPhone location deal. Both Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) have sent letters to Apple inquiring why iPhones are logging users’ locations. Strangely enough, both letters contained the same question about whether or not the iPhone’s location system could tell if someone was—hypothetically speaking—on a golf course?
Apple named ‘least green’ tech company (The Guardian)
Just when you thought the eternal battle between Greenpeace and Apple had died to embers, the environmental organization is stirring the coals once again, this time by declaring Cupertino the ‘least green’ tech company. The reason for the ding? Apple’s North Carolina data center, which will—Greenpeace estimates—triple the company’s electricity consumption. That’s much worse than rival companies’ data centers, which run on cotton candy and the dreams of the innocent.
Apple floats iPhone ’4S’ with A5 chip to select developers to prepare for next-gen iPhone (9 to 5 Mac)
Call it the iPhone 4.5. Apple’s rumored to be distributing iPhone 4 units with the same dual-core A5 processor used in the iPad 2 to certain developers—mostly those in high-end gaming—for testing. The War and Peace-length NDA also reputedly contains a clause that forbids those developers from going to bars for the length of the agreement.
Epic: 99-Cent Apps Are ‘Killing Us’ (IndustryGamers)
Epic Games president Mike Capps says that $1 apps are a threat to the game industry’s pricing model: “If there’s anything that’s killing us [in the traditional games business] it’s dollar apps. How do you sell someone a $60 game that’s really worth it … They’re used to 99 cents.” I mean, I can’t see Angry Birds cutting out Gears of War 3’s bottom line, unless they start giving the birds guns with chainsaws on them. Oooh. Million dollar game idea.